“Oh sorry, I’m a little rusty”.
The above excuse would be perfectly acceptable if you were playing football for your team after a year out injured, or if you’re cooking for the first time since 1998 due to COVID-19 lockdown measures.
There are a couple of instances where this excuse is a little objectionable, however. These include:
- surgeons botching an operation
- people serving bubble tea without the pearls
- pilots making an error on a plane
But, believe it or not, one of these three things actually happened:
Some Pilots Making Mistakes Again As Flights Are Back But They’ve Not Flown for a While
Some rusty pilots are making errors they wouldn’t normally make due to a shortage of flight time during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In recent months, as more flights have resumed, several such incidents involving mistakes were reported, some of which could have ended in disaster.
In one incident, a pilot forgot to start his plane’s second engine for takeoff but fortunately aborted the flight in time.
Another pilot who was landing a plane was several hundred metres from the ground when he realised he hadn’t lowered the wheels yet. He did so in the nick of time, when the aircraft was 240m from the ground.
Perhaps the most amusing incident involved a pilot who flew a passenger plane in the wrong direction.
All these pilots had one thing in common: they hadn’t flown a plane in months thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In all these incidents, which occurred in the US, the airline crew attributed their errors to a shortage of flight time.
Lion Air Aircraft Veered off Runaway Last Year Due to “Rusty” Pilots
A similar incident occurred last year when pilots were returning to the skies after a prolonged period away from the cockpit.
On 15 Sep 2020, a Lion Air aircraft ferrying 307 passengers and 11 crew to Medan momentarily veered off the runway after landing.
It was later discovered that the pilot of the Indonesian flight hadn’t flown at all since 1 Feb, and had flown less than three hours in the previous three months.
Thankfully, no one was injured in the incident.
Reasons
Unlike riding a bike, not everything comes naturally to a pilot when they get back in the cockpit after an extended layoff.
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Virtual experience in a flight simulator or classroom lessons can’t replicate the real-life pressures and stresses of flying a plane.
And while some airlines are retraining their pilots, others are reportedly doing the “bare minimum”, said Mr Uwe Harter, a grounded Airbus SE A380 pilot for Lufthansa.
The good news is that from 2016 to 2020, there’s been just one major accident for every 5 million jet flights.
With vaccinations climbing in many countries now, it’s imperative that airlines ensure their pilots are ready to return to the skies.
The last thing we need now is another disaster to deal with.
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Featured Image: Carlos E. Santa Maria / Shutterstock.com
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